Becoming Part of the National Commentary

OVERVIEW

Greenlight Guru, the leading quality management software for medical devices, partnered with BLASTmedia to develop a PR strategy that would, in part, help establish the company and Jon Speer, founder of Greenlight Guru, as a thought leader in the medical device industry.

CHALLENGE

While securing coverage in trade publications can help build thought leadership, for Greenlight Guru to truly secure a place as a medical device thought leader, it was important also to insert Greenlight into larger, national narratives. Unlike other topics that are regularly discussed as part of national narratives, the number of macrotrends involving med device are limited. As a result, BLASTmedia was challenged to identify med device macrotrends that Greenlight could comment on and would appeal to a national audience.

STRATEGY

To keep a pulse on the industry, the BLASTmedia team set up research alerts and an internal process to monitor both industry and national trends within MedTech – including consumer applications of medical device technology.

One national news event that is watched closely each September is the Apple event, where they announce new products. The events are highly anticipated and the announcements dominate technology news headlines. BLASTmedia’s research of rumors-based articles, new hires, and specs leaks ahead of the announcement pointed towards Apple announcing a new Apple Watch 4 with heart-monitoring/EKG capabilities, making the product an FDA Class 2 Medical Device – Apple’s first product requiring FDA clearance.

Bringing the rumors and predicted announcement details to the client, BLASTmedia and Greenlight agreed that there was an opportunity to leverage Jon’s expertise in the FDA space. Using information uncovered during a story-mining session, BLASTmedia identified that the Apple Watch was “cleared” by the FDA, but not approved — a significant difference that Jon could speak to in detail. The team decided upon a reactive strategy to offer clarification and perspective to journalists on the process of receiving FDA clearance and the difference between FDA clearance and FDA approval.

Leading up to the Apple event, the account team began compiling a reactive media list based on top-tier tech and business writers actively covering the Apple rumors and predictions. The goal was to have a list of contacts ready to go once the rumors were confirmed at the event.

The strategy played out as anticipated, and, once the announcement was confirmed, the team got to work immediately. Leveraging Jon Speer as a thought leader, BLASTmedia made outreach to top-tier consumer technology and business news publications offering Jon’s expertise in the medical device industry to explain the blurring lines between fitness trackers and medical devices.

CAMPAIGN RESULTS

As a result of the team’s outreach, BLASTmedia secured interest from a science and technology reporter at The Verge and secured a next-day phone interview for Jon. His insights were included in three separate articles published on The Verge. BLASTmedia also secured an interview with John Biggs, a columnist and tech influencer at TechCrunch, on the future of wearables and the regulations governing them.

Overall, the campaign increased awareness of Greenlight Guru as a thought leader among target audiences, as indicated by the following metrics:

Coverage in publications with readership matching target publics, including four pieces of coverage in The Verge; one piece of coverage in TechCrunch; syndicated coverage in Medical Plastics News, Redmond Pie, and the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Coverage included key messages, such as “quality management software” and “medical device.”

Increased Greenlight Guru’s overall share of voice among competitors in September — 57% in September, compared to 27% in August.

The campaign also opened up the opportunity to introduce and secure an interest in Greenlight Guru as an expert source with contacts at WIRED and Popular Science.